Friday, January 10, 2014

The Problem With Steampunk Wonder Woman

Recently, DC Comics released a handful of steampunk variant covers for their releases next month. Some of them look pretty cool and make me actually want to pick them up just for the cover alone. However, others are a little problematic. 

To elaborate, I'll use a visual aid and see if you guys and gals can figure out what I'm talking about. First, I'll show you the two covers that I really like. 

Batgirl & Batwoman Variant Covers
Both covers look awesome and capture the characters and the concept of steampunk pretty well. Now, let's look at the two covers that I'm not that fond of. 

Wonder Woman & Wonder Woman/Superman Variant Covers
We have Wonder Woman, an Amazon and powerful warrior, is depicted as a flirty show girl and posing for Superman while he carries what I assume is her luggage because everyone knows girls always over-pack and make the men do all the hard work. 

See the problem? 

Out of all the characters, why is Wonder Woman depicted like this? Why is she placed in all the stereotypical "girly" roles, especially when Batgirl and Batwoman aren't? It just seems like a weird decision to me. Actually, this is DC and they are in the business of making weird and stupid decisions, so I shouldn't be too surprised by this. I guess I still have some hope left in me. 

Now, let me be perfectly clear about something. I'm not saying the covers are badly drawn. Both covers, especially the one on the left, look good from an artistic stance. Also, my problem isn't with the costume Diana is wearing, but how they depicted her. For example, let's look at the Teen Titans variant cover. 

Teen Titans Variant Cover
Wonder Girl is depicted in a similar show girl outfit to Wonder Woman. However, at least she is in an action pose and not posing for her boyfriend or giving a flirty look at two people wielding guns. I don't mind the outfit, I just wish she was depicted in a way that matched the character's personality. 

Is that too much to ask?



No comments:

Post a Comment